{"id":6045,"date":"2026-04-08T13:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6045"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:38:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:38:36","slug":"man-utd-board-slammed-over-one-of-the-biggest-transfer-mistakes-ever-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6045","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd board slammed over &#8216;one of the biggest transfer mistakes ever&#8217; | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27897912\" alt=\"UEFA Champions League 2023\/24 Group Stage Teams Jerseys Shoot\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Man Utd have made a number of blunders in the transfer market (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Iconic World Cup winner Marco Materazzi has accused Manchester United\u2019s board of making \u2018one of the biggest transfer mistakes ever\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>United were often hailed for their business in the transfer market during Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s long and successful reign but it has been a different story since he retired in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>A number of United\u2019s biggest signings since then have underwhelmed at Old Trafford, which several sold players have thrived elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>One player who has certainly excelled since his Manchester United departure is academy graduate Scott McTominay, who was sold to Napoli in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>McTominay had made 255 appearances for the Red Devils and was hoping to add to that figure when United agreed a \u00a326m deal with Serie A giants Napoli.<\/p>\n<p>The Scotland international enjoyed an incredible first season in Naples, helping Antonio Conte\u2019s side win the league and being named the Most Valuable Player in the division.<\/p>\n<p>McTominay was even nominated for the Ballon d\u2019Or award after scoring 13 goals in all competitions from midfield \u2013 a number he is set to surpass this term.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2265560194_affed3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27898405\" alt=\"AC Milan v FC Internazionale - Serie A\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>World Cup winner Marco Materazzi (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ex-Italy defender Materazzi says he believed from early on in McTominay\u2019s career that he would become \u2018one of the best players in the world\u2019 and has slammed Manchester United\u2019s decision to sell him for less than \u00a330m.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I love Scott McTominay,\u2019 Materazzi, who helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup, told Hajper. \u2018I love him so much.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When he broke through at Manchester United as a youngster I laughed because I said to my son that even at 18 or 19 this is a player who will go on to be one of the best players in the world, and now he is one of the best.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269679309.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27898418\" alt=\"Scott McTominay of SSC Napoli warms up during the Serie A\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Man Utd sold Scott McTominay to Napoli (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018He is an incredible box-to-box player. I don\u2019t understand how United sold him for nothing because his value, for me, is \u00a360-70m or more and they sold him for just \u00a326m.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t know. Is that one of the biggest transfer mistakes we\u2019ve ever seen? I think so, absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Can Scott McTominay win the Ballon d\u2019Or some day? It\u2019s a nice idea because I love him as a player.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram\"\/>\n<p>\u2018But I don\u2019t think he will be champion in the World Cup with Scotland and it\u2019s not easy when you don\u2019t win the biggest trophies.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United have been linked with a move for McTominay ahead of the summer transfer window, such has been his rise since leaving Old Trafford.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing speculation over his future at Napoli earlier in the year, McTominay said: \u2018I am extremely happy here.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018As far as I am concerned, I am a\u00a0Napoli\u00a0player; it is all I think about. The future is very important, and I could see myself in Napoli for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I love this place. Difficulties have been minimal, my family is happy and I\u2019m happy.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>A second successive Serie A title looks set to evade McTominay and Napoli, who are seven points behind leaders Inter Milan with seven games remaining.<\/p>\n<p>Napoli beat AC Milan 1-0 in their first game back following the international break and return to action on Sunday against Parma.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong>Facebook,\u00a0<\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Michael Carrick provides Lisandro Martinez update with Harry Maguire set to miss Man Utd vs Leeds<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Manchester United legend Paul Scholes names the \u2018best team in the world\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Jamie Carragher makes worrying Arsenal title claim after Champions League win<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--sport\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n<p>Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro&#8217;s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/> Man Utd board slammed over &#8216;one of the biggest transfer mistakes ever&#8217; | Football<br \/>\n<br \/>#Man #Utd #board #slammed #biggest #transfer #mistakes #Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man Utd have made a number of blunders in the transfer market (Picture: Getty) Iconic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1523,664,317,230,369,2804,376,471],"class_list":["post-6045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-biggest","tag-board","tag-football","tag-man","tag-mistakes","tag-slammed","tag-transfer","tag-utd"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1805471251_1775654371-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/news678.top\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}